Landscapes Forest and Global Change - ESA - Escola Superior ...

I. Löfström et al. 2010. Biodiversity and recreational values in urban participatory forest planning in Finland
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can also be used to solve local problems and even conflicts (Löfström 2006, Löfström etc 2007,
2008a, 2000b, Mikkola etc 2008).
The aim of the study was to gain an overall picture of the planning and management of
municipally owned urban forests and to discover together with the urban practitioners the main
development needs of planning processes. We studied especially if multiple values, e.g.
recreation and biodiversity and forest users’ opinions were taken into account. Another aim was
to study the applicability of multi-criteria decision analysis and advanced decision-support tools
to urban forest planning.
The aim of our case study in Puijo, located in the city of Kuopio, was to develop optimal
participatory planning process and to investigate environmental values, views and opinions of
citizens concerning forest management in Puijo.
2. Methodology
The research methods used were mail surveys and interviews of urban forest planners, working
groups and seminars involving forest planners and other stakeholders as well as analysis and
follow-up of ongoing municipal forest management planning processes. This article consists of
results of several studies which have been carried out during 2005-2009.
In the recent Puijo planning process, the opinions of local people were collected with different
methods. The data were collected in 2009 in the surrounding housing areas of Puijo forest
through both mail survey and Internet survey during the participatory forest planning project.
The mail survey was sent to 2000 inhabitants and about 25 % of them responded to the inquiry.
3. Result
The majority of the municipalities used lighter and a wider range of forest management methods
for recreational forests than are generally in use in commercial forests. In recreational forests
nature-oriented forest management methods were preferred. According to municipalities’ view
old forest stands, broad-leaved trees, and natural regeneration increase biodiversity, aesthetic
and recreational values. However, municipalities have received also negative feedback from
forest users when they have left decaying trees valuable for biodiversity into urban forests.
Conflicts arising from enhancing both the biodiversity and the recreational use of forests may
partly be due to the lack of knowledge. For example decaying wood has been collected for fire
wood. Many forest users preferred forests where walking and running is easy, which indicates
that decaying trees should be removed. In addition, safety of recreational forests is important for
municipalities, and that has been one reason for removing standing dying trees. A solution
might be to leave decaying trees into clusters that are not located near pathways.
Municipalities are interested in improving forest biodiversity in the recreational forests they
own. In their forests, many municipalities have actively inventoried the occurrence of
ecologically valuable habitats and features important for, e.g. threatened and endangered species.
However, municipalities expect more instructions and training on how to protect biodiversity in
practice in their forests. They consider that financial incentives are also important for promoting
biodiversity Compensation should be based on diminished returns and raised costs for forest
management due to e.g. habitat restoration.
Forest Landscapes and Global Change-New Frontiers in Management, Conservation and Restoration. Proceedings of the IUFRO Landscape Ecology
Working Group International Conference, September 21-27, 2010, Bragança, Portugal. J.C. Azevedo, M. Feliciano, J. Castro & M.A. Pinto (eds.)
2010, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Bragança, Portugal.